This invention relates to stethoscopes and more particularly to a device for monitoring the breathing sounds of a patient during an anesthetic or surgical procedure employing an endotracheal tube.
Endotracheal tubes are in common use during anesthetic and/or surgical procedures to administer an anesthetic to the patient and/or deliver a gaseous mixture to the patient to facilitate breathing during the surgical procedure. The endotracheal tube has a generally rigid arcuate configuration and is adapted to be inserted through the mouth cavity of the patient and into the trachea of the patient to position the outer end of the tube exteriorally of the patient's mouth and position the inner end of the tube proximate the patient's lungs so that anesthesia and/or a breathing mixture may be delivered to the patient's lungs through the endotracheal tube. It is important that the pulmonary breath sounds of the patient be monitored during the surgical procedure. In the prior art, the pulmonary breath sounds have been monitored by either an esophageal stethoscope (a stethoscopic tube inserted into the esophagus of the patient) or by a tube incorporated in the endotracheal tube and including a fitting for connection to the hose of a conventional aural stethoscope. Whereas these prior art arrangements for monitoring pulmonary breath sounds during a surgical procedure have been generally satisfactory, they have proven to be somewhat cumbersome in actual use and are also relatively expensive.